Neil Woodford has launched a new asset management company, Woodford Investment Management.
The former UK head of equities at Invesco Perpetual UK moved to Oakley Capital Management on May 1. Oakley Capital Management provided strategic support to launch Woodford Investment Management, but the two companies have no longer an operational relationship.
A spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
Today, Woodford announced the creation of Woodford Investment Management and plans to launch its first fund, the CF Woodford Equity Income Fund.
The fund is scheduled to launch on June 2, and Woodford, who has taken up the role of head of investments, will manage it.
“I will run this new fund in the same way that I have always run money, adopting the same philosophy and the same long-term approach,” Woodford says.
“Woodford Investment Management has a culture and an environment that gives me the opportunity to focus on investing – and to build a business committed to its clients’ long-term interests.”
Woodford says he will focus on valuation and identifying companies that can deliver sustainable dividend growth, and those that he believes will be dividend payers of the future.
With a simplified pricing structure, the fund will absorb fund-related expenses into its annual management charge and have four share classes
Craig Newman, chief executive of Woodford Investment Management, says: “We are able to keep our fees low, through the use of modern technology and encouraging investors to use fund platforms, execution-only brokers and financial advice channels, rather than buying directly from us.”
Newman, a former head of sales at Invesco Perpetual, moved with Woodford to Oakley Capital Management as head of retail asset management.
Newman says many investors are still needlessly paying higher fees as a result of buying directly from fund management companies in the past.
Hargreaves Lansdown says that the prospect of Woodford starting with a clean sheet of paper presents a rare and exciting opportunity for long-term investors.
“I have known and invested with Neil Woodford for over 20 years,” says Mark Dampier, head of research, Hargreaves Lansdown, adding that he is one of the finest fund managers of his generation.
“He has remained consistent and true to his long-term investment philosophy, refusing to follow the herd and investing in unwanted, unfashionable and unloved sectors and companies.”
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